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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How was the American republic viewed by the English and French governments at this time?

2. What was Washington's key military tactic in the Revolutionary War?

3. Who emerged as the candidates for President upon Washington's retirement?

4. What was the subject of the petitions to the House of Representatives that caused so much controversy on February 11, 1790?

5. What did George Washington do to quell the Whiskey Rebellion?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Washington physically as well as the legend surrounding him.

2. Why did Washington turn away requests that he become a king of the new republic?

3. Why was Washington's retirement from public office so important to history?

4. Why did Adams make an ineffective Vice President to Washington?

5. Why was Jefferson so enamored with the French Revolution?

6. How did Benjamin Franklin contribute to the debates over slavery?

7. Where did the white men, whether pro and anti slavery, believe the slaves would go once they were freed?

8. Why do you think the framers of the Constitution placed a moratorium on laws regarding slavery until 1808?

9. How did James Madison, statesman from Virginia, treat the subject of slavery?

10. How did the individual states handle these issues when the Federal Government remained silent on the subject of slavery? Give examples.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Re-read paragraph two on page 16, where the author says America was founded not necessarily on a proposition written by Jefferson in 1776, but on an argument about what that proposition means. What does the author mean by this statement? Does it make you think differently about the history as you were taught as a young child?

Essay Topic 2

Describe George Washington. What contributed to his legendary character, and what traits did he have that made him the perfect man to lead our young nation?

Essay Topic 3

America fought a war of independence, created a constitution, and began its first twenty years as a country, all with George Washington at its head. When he publishes a letter to the American people who have loved and admired him for so long that he is retiring, how do you think they felt? What impact do you think this had on the shopkeepers, tradesmen and average people who were not intimately involved in politics?

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