Civics Test Questions 71–80 with Answers & Explanations2008 · for earlier filers

Quick answer: this block drills The 1800s and Recent American History — questions 71-80, each with the official correct answer and a plain-English explanation. Study it as one session: answer from memory first, verify second. Nothing here is rated hard — good warm-up territory.

Questions 71-80

Question 71: What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?

• A. Alaska
• B. Florida
• C. Texas
• D. the Louisiana Territory ✓

Answer: D — the Louisiana Territory. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 — bought from Napoleon's France for about $15 million — roughly doubled the size of the United States. Alaska came from Russia in 1867; Florida from Spain in 1819; Texas joined by annexation in 1845. Official, adapted

Question 72: Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.

• A. World War I
• B. the Vietnam War
• C. the Korean War
• D. the Civil War ✓

Answer: D — the Civil War. Official answers for the 1800s: the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War — naming any one is complete. World War I, Vietnam, and Korea are all twentieth-century wars: that is the century trap this question sets. Official, adapted

Question 73: Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.

• A. the Revolutionary War
• B. the Spanish-American War
• C. the Civil War ✓
• D. the War of 1812

Answer: C — the Civil War. The Civil War (1861–1865) — "the War between the States" is an equally official answer — pitted the Northern states (the Union) against the Southern states (the Confederacy). The Revolutionary War was colonies against Britain, eighty years earlier. Official, adapted

Question 74: Name one problem that led to the Civil War.

• A. a conflict over immigration quotas
• B. slavery ✓
• C. a border dispute with Mexico
• D. a rivalry between two political parties

Answer: B — slavery. The official answers: slavery, economic reasons, states' rights — naming any one is complete. Slavery is the cause historians place first: the conflict over whether new territories would allow it drove the North and South apart. Official, adapted

Question 75: What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did?

• A. wrote the Declaration of Independence
• B. led the United States during the War of 1812
• C. was the first President of the United States
• D. freed the slaves (Emancipation Proclamation) ✓

Answer: D — freed the slaves (Emancipation Proclamation). Lincoln freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation, saved — preserved — the Union, and led the United States during the Civil War: naming any one of the three is a full answer. The Declaration was Jefferson's (1776); the first President was Washington; the War of 1812 predates Lincoln's presidency by decades. Official, adapted

Question 76: What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?

• A. admitted new free states to the Union
• B. abolished slavery in every country in the Americas
• C. ended the Revolutionary War
• D. freed the slaves ✓

Answer: D — freed the slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863, freed the slaves — precisely, those held in the rebelling Confederate states, which is why the official answers name the Confederacy and "most Southern states." It did not end the Revolutionary War (1783) or reach beyond the United States. Official, adapted

Question 77: What did Susan B. Anthony do?

• A. wrote most of the Federalist Papers
• B. led the Continental Army
• C. founded the first free libraries
• D. fought for women's rights ✓

Answer: D — fought for women's rights. Susan B. Anthony fought for women's rights — above all the right to vote — and for civil rights broadly; the Nineteenth Amendment is her era's monument. Franklin founded the first free libraries; Washington led the Continental Army; Hamilton, Madison, and Jay wrote the Federalist Papers. Official, adapted

Question 78: Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.

• A. the War of 1812
• B. the Mexican-American War
• C. the Civil War
• D. World War II ✓

Answer: D — World War II. Official answers for the 1900s: World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the (Persian) Gulf War — naming any one is complete. The Civil War, the War of 1812, and the Mexican-American War are all nineteenth-century or earlier — the century trap, in reverse. Official, adapted

Question 79: Who was President during World War I?

• A. (Theodore) Roosevelt
• B. (Harry) Truman
• C. (Franklin) Roosevelt
• D. (Woodrow) Wilson ✓

Answer: D — (Woodrow) Wilson. Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921) brought the United States into World War I in 1917. The traps: Franklin Roosevelt led during World War Two (1933–1945), Theodore Roosevelt — no relation to Wilson's era — served 1901–1909, and Truman ended World War II. Official, adapted

Question 80: Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?

• A. (Franklin) Roosevelt ✓
• B. (Theodore) Roosevelt
• C. (Dwight) Eisenhower
• D. (Woodrow) Wilson

Answer: A — (Franklin) Roosevelt. Franklin D. Roosevelt held office from 1933 to 1945 — the New Deal against the Great Depression, then leadership through World War II — and remains the only president elected four times. Theodore Roosevelt is the trap: a different Roosevelt, three decades earlier. Official, adapted

Answer key at a glance

Answer from memory first, then check the key — the fastest way to find which explanations you actually need to read in full.

Study notes for this set

The habit that moves scores: after each miss, restate the correct fact out loud in your own words before moving on. Then run the section drill until the misses stop repeating, close the loop on the full practice test, and use the question bank index to revisit any group.