U.S. History Practice Test: Westward Expansion
- Westward Expansion
- 10 questions
- 12 minutes
These 10 questions cover how the United States grew from the Mississippi River to the Pacific between 1803 and the 1860s. A map in your head helps: think about where each place lies.
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.
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Question 1
From which country did the United States buy the Louisiana Territory in 1803?
Correct answer: A
President Jefferson's government bought the territory from Napoleon's France for about $15 million, roughly doubling the size of the country. Spain had owned it earlier but had given it back to France.
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Question 2
What was a main goal of the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1806)?
Correct answer: C
Jefferson sent the Corps of Discovery to map the land, study plants and animals, meet Native nations and search for a river route west. The California gold rush did not begin until 1848.
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Question 3
What did the Monroe Doctrine (1823) declare?
Correct answer: B
President Monroe warned Europe not to colonize or interfere in the Western Hemisphere, and in return the U.S. would stay out of European affairs. The U.S. had already gained Florida in a treaty with Spain signed in 1819.
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Question 4
What was the Trail of Tears?
Correct answer: D
After the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the U.S. army forced the Cherokee in 1838-1839 to move from the Southeast to present-day Oklahoma, and thousands died on the way. The escape network for enslaved people was the Underground Railroad.
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Question 5
What did Americans in the 1840s mean by "Manifest Destiny"?
Correct answer: C
Journalist John O'Sullivan used the phrase in 1845, and it was used to justify the annexation of Texas, the Oregon claim and the war with Mexico. Free land for settlers came later with the Homestead Act.
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Question 6
The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, connected the Great Lakes with which body of water?
Correct answer: A
The canal ran across New York from Buffalo on Lake Erie to Albany on the Hudson, so goods could travel by water to New York City. That trade helped New York become the country's largest port.
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Question 7
Which land did the United States gain in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)?
Correct answer: D
The treaty ended the Mexican-American War, and Mexico gave up a large area that included California, Nevada, Utah and parts of other states. Alaska was bought from Russia in 1867, and Oregon came from an 1846 agreement with Britain.
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Question 8
What was one direct result of the California Gold Rush that began in 1848?
Correct answer: B
Hundreds of thousands of people rushed west, and California entered the Union as a free state in 1850. The railroad across the continent was not finished until 1869.
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Question 9
Most families on the Oregon Trail began the journey from towns along which river?
Correct answer: C
Towns such as Independence, Missouri, were the usual starting points, and the trail ran about 2,000 miles to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. The Ohio River lies much farther east.
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Question 10
What did the Homestead Act of 1862 offer settlers?
Correct answer: B
Settlers who built a home and farmed the land for five years could claim it, which drew many families to the Great Plains. The law was passed during the Civil War, after Southern members had left Congress.
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