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AP®HistoryCollege BoardUS HistoryExam QuestionsPeriod 5: 1844-1877Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny (College Board AP® US History): Exam Questions

7 mins7 questions
11 mark

"The gulches seemed alive with moving men. Great, brawny miners wielded the pick and shovel, while others stood knee deep in the icy water, and washed the soil from the gold. Every one seemed impelled by the frenzy of fever as men hurried here and there, so intent upon their work they had scarcely time to breathe."

Luzena Stanley Wilson, '49er: Memories Recalled Years Later for her Daughter Correnah Wilson Wright (1937)

Which of the following best explains the immediate cause of the migration of “49ers” to California, as described in the excerpt?

  • The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill and communication of this through newspapers

  • The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which officially transferred California to the United States

  •  The Homestead Act, which granted land to settlers willing to work in the West

  • The completion of the transcontinental railroad, which allowed for faster travel to California

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21 mark

"The gulches seemed alive with moving men. Great, brawny miners wielded the pick and shovel, while others stood knee deep in the icy water, and washed the soil from the gold. Every one seemed impelled by the frenzy of fever as men hurried here and there, so intent upon their work they had scarcely time to breathe."

Luzena Stanley Wilson, '49er: Memories Recalled Years Later for her Daughter Correnah Wilson Wright (1937)

The migration pattern described in the excerpt contributed most directly to the

  • Increased political influence of the South in national affairs

  •  Economic boom in San Francisco and other western cities

  • Spread of sharecropping and tenant farming in the western territories

  • Expansion of the plantation system into the Pacific Northwest

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31 mark

"The gulches seemed alive with moving men. Great, brawny miners wielded the pick and shovel, while others stood knee deep in the icy water, and washed the soil from the gold. Every one seemed impelled by the frenzy of fever as men hurried here and there, so intent upon their work they had scarcely time to breathe."

Luzena Stanley Wilson, '49er: Memories Recalled Years Later for her Daughter Correnah Wilson Wright (1937)

Which of the following best explains the reality for most prospectors who migrated during the event described in the excerpt?

  •  Mining settlements developed into highly structured and stable communities with little crime or disorder

  • Most prospectors quickly gained wealth and reinvested their earnings in land and businesses

  • The gold mining industry was primarily dominated by enslaved laborers brought from the South

  • The majority of prospectors failed to find significant gold deposits and struggled financially

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41 mark
Allegorical image of a floating woman in white leading settlers westward; includes railroads, wagons, and Native Americans, set against a dramatic sky.
George A. Crofutt, “American Progress”, c. 1873

The image above is making the point that

  • The most significant cause of Western migration after the Civil War was religious persecution

  • Manifest Destiny guided and protected white Americans who migrated and settled in the West

  • Indigenous peoples and white Americans were able to co-exist peacefully on the Great Plains

  • The technological progress of the American West protected the existing flora and fauna 

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51 mark
Allegorical image of a floating woman in white leading settlers westward; includes railroads, wagons, and Native Americans, set against a dramatic sky.
George A. Crofutt, “American Progress”, c. 1873

The image above can best be seen as providing a rationale for

  • Opening trade links with Japan

  • The Mexican-American war

  • The ‘democratic civilization’ of the American West

  • The ‘free-labor’ ideology of the Republican Party

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61 mark
Allegorical image of a floating woman in white leading settlers westward; includes railroads, wagons, and Native Americans, set against a dramatic sky.
George A. Crofutt, “American Progress”, c. 1873

The circumstances depicted in the image show the direct impact of which of the following federal policies?

  • The Dawes Severalty Act

  • President Grant’s “peace policy”

  • The Indian Appropriations Act

  • The Homestead Act

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71 mark
Allegorical image of a floating woman in white leading settlers westward; includes railroads, wagons, and Native Americans, set against a dramatic sky.
George A. Crofutt, “American Progress”, c. 1873

Which of the following events from after the creation of this image can best be seen as being part of a continuity with the events shown in the image above?

  • The Timber Culture Act

  • Completion of the first transcontinental railroad

  • Discovery of gold at Pike’s Peak Country

  • Completion of the Great Northern Railway

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