Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Wednesday Quiz II:10 -- U.S. Political History


The Wednesday Quiz -- Season II -- Quiz 10

U.S. Political History

The Wednesday Quiz is a "closed-book" test of knowledge and intuition; please do not look up answers, ask others for help, or answer as a team.

Questions about the rules and the ~Fabulous Prizes~ are answered here.

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This week's Quiz is offers a patently unfair home court advantage to the Unitedstatesians among you. Use it wisely.

Answer Concisely!

I mean, sure, any of these questions could be elaborated, or contested, in a very thick book. But we're just looking for the main ideas, here. Quick short answers, people!

1. What was the "Three-Fifths Compromise" (1787)?

2. Marbury vs. Madison (1803) was a legal case involving some technical issues in the appointment of a Justice of the Peace. So why was it such a big deal?

3. What was, or is, the "Monroe Doctrine"? (1823)

4. What was the Trail of Tears (1831)?

5. As soon as the Republic of Texas was annexed by the U.S. in 1845, the Polk Administration was immediately under pressure to work out with Britain how the "Oregon Country" would be divided between them. Why?

6. What decision was reversed by the passage of the Twenty-First Amendment (1933)?

7. What arguably devious end did President Franklin Roosevelt have in mind with the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937?

8. What specific demographic group of Americans is directly affected by both the 19th Amendment (1920) and the 26th Amendment (1971)?

9. The ERA (1970s) was a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution. What was it intended to accomplish?

10. Citing danger to the lives of expatriot U.S. citizens, the defence of democracy and human rights, and the need to combat drug trafficking, President George H.W. Bush ordered the invasion of what country in 1989?


Submit your answers in the comments!

16 comments:

The Calico Cat said...

1. 3/5ths the population of slaves would be counted. (Do you want to know why this was necessary? taxes & representation in congress...)
2. defined checks & balances
3. colonization in the Americas = aggression (becasue colonization in Africa, etc. was non-aggressive...)
4. forced relocation of native americans from the deep south to indian territory
5. placed the Northern Border of the US at the 49th parallel.
6. prohibition
7. no idea
8. women
9. blank
10. Iraq

Nichim said...

This is mortifying. Don't tell my dad how badly I do on this, okay? I'm only completing it because I promised myself I would do all the quizzes this term, drawn by the lure of fabulous prizes. For the record, though, my dad didn't become a US history teacher until after I'd left home, okay?

1. An agreement about how much of a person a slave counted for, for the purposes of demographics
2. State's rights
3. Foreign policy (angling for half credit - if I say any more I'll stick my foot in it)
4. Forcible resettlement of Indian folks (Cherokee & etc) to Oklahoma territory
5. 54'40 or fight! Manifest Destiny! That America is getting too big for its britches! England and Spain are not friends!
6. Prohibition
7. Executive power power power
8. Black folks. No wait, womenfolks. NO WAIT, MINORS! Those are voting age amendments. (That's my final answer)
9. Equal rights for women
10. Nicaragua

DrSchnell said...

1. How much a slave counts towards a state's population for representation purposes.
2. I think it allowed the Supreme court to declare laws unconstitutional.
3. The western hemisphere is ours, you scummy Eurotrash, so stay out.
4. removal of Cherokees from NC and GA to OK (sometimes used for other tribes too).
5. Probably some more crap about having balance between slave/no slave states
6. No likker (or any alcohol)
7. Packing the SCOTUS full of people who didn't hate him
8. wimmen
9. make discrimination on basis of gender unconstitutional.
10. Panama (cue Van Halen riff...)

Elizabeth said...

I got a "D" in the last history class I took, but that might have been partly due to the fact that it met at 8am. Here goes ...

1. That the negro would be counted, for census purposes, as 3/5ths of a person.
2. No idea.
3. Giving aid to people you've conquered?
4. The forcible relocation of Native Americans, to Oklahoma, I believe.
5. Something to do with the fur trade, perhaps?
6. Prohibition?
7. Being able to appoint a bunch of judges right before a law passed allowing Congress to oppose them, or something like that, I think.
8. Women.
9. Equal rights for women, but more specifically, I don't know.
10. Panama.

Elaine said...

Oh, Bother!
I once knew the answers to ALL of these!
1. In drawing up the Constitution, the agreement that if 3/5 of the members of the Confederation (the States) ratified the proposed new Constitution, that it would be adopted. (I just do not remember.)
2. Because it resulted in the 11th Amendment.
3. The idea that the United States should intervene in the political problems of other countries...for their own good, of course.
4. The Indian Removal Act allowed the US Army to round up the Eastern Tribes and transport or march them a very long way and dump them in 'Indian Territory' (now Oklahoma.) Thousands perished of exposure, starvation, exhaustion, and just plain misery. (The River Route used, in part, the Arkansas River, and a memorial stands on the butte near Conway, where I live.)
5. Britain wanted to move the border further south, presumably because the US already had plenty of territory. We vowed, "54-40 or fight!" (the line of Latitude, but I don't know how to make the wee little 'degree' thingie)
6. Prohibition was reversed--the idea that stopping the sale of alcoholic beverages was going to improve the tone of our society...
7. The claim was that FDR was trying to 'pack the Court' with this act. It would have allowed him to appoint some additional Justices.
8. Hmm, the drinkers? Just kidding! It's WOMEN.
9. The Equal Rights Amendment was intended to...give women equal rights under the law, including the right to judicial redress. It's hard to explain to young women that a woman divorcing in, say, 1969 had no credit rating (the husband kept that,) often could not get a bank loan, and...oops, too long! And anyway, we could never get it ratified...
10. Nicaragua (Iran-Contra)?

I'd have done better 30 years ago.

blythe said...

i know #4! and that's about it. wait, #6 is very important to me.

Christine M. said...

1. slaves would be counted in the census as 3/5 of a person
2. mmm, can't remember
3. that we should help our brothers and sisters in latin america, militarily speaking.
4. forced removal of several southern tribes to Oklahoma
5. something to do about balancing out slave and free states?
6. prohibition
7. packing the Supreme Court
8. women
9. equal rights for women
10. Panama

Cartophiliac said...

1. In a compromise between northern and southern states, it was decided that slaves would count as 3/5 of a human being for the purposes of determining representation in congress, and electoral votes.
2. Established the precedent of "judicial review" i.e. the Supreme Court can judge on the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress.
3. A statement of policy of the U.S. government that no European nation should interfere with the newly independent nations in the Western Hemisphere. Only we get to do that.
4. Entire Nations of Native Americans were forcibly transplanted to reservations west of the Mississippi. There were many deaths and much hardship along the way.
5. "54 40 or Fight" was the call for war with Britain if we didn't get all of the Oregon territory. We knew we'd probably get our ass kicked in a war like that (just like in 1812) and wisely compromised on the 49th parallel. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty also settled other border disputes with Canada, from Maine to the Puget Sound.
6. Prohibition was repealed.
7. Increase the size of the SCOTUS to 15, so he could pack it with judges who would not shoot down his New Deal plans.
8. Women and under-21-year-olds.
9. Equal Rights Amendment would have put an end to sexual discrimination and make us all have to use unisex restrooms (at least that's what the opponents said...)
10. Iraq.

Kritkrat said...

1. Blacks counted as 3/5 of a person in the census.
2. Established Precedence? or something...
3. Told Europe to get the hell out of the US. Stop trying to colonize us, bitches!
4. You should totally watch the PBS series WE SHALL REMAIN. They have a beautiful episode on the Trail of Tears. Cherokee Indians (along with some others - um, seminole, Creek... can't remember them all) forcibly made to leave their land, and resulted in thousands of deaths due to exposure.
5. no idea
6. Booze is legal again! YAY!
7. Get more justices on the Supreme Ct.
8. Women and young people? is this a 2-parter or am I forgetting something?
9. Equal Rights for women
10. Panama

mrs.5000 said...

OK, I've put this embarrassment off long enough...
1 a slave was worth 3/5 a person in tallying up representation
2 um, it established the Supreme Court as final arbiter of legal disputes
3 aggressive expansion of territory
4 route of the Cherokee forced from their homes
5 to keep the balance between free and slave states
6 Prohibition
7 stock the courts with judges that would support his programs
8 young Americans
9 establish equal rights for women
10 Haiti

UnwiseOwl said...

I am glad you've abandoned your international approach to quizzes, having quizzes I have no idea about makes learning new things so much easier. I have no idea about this stuff, just thinking out loud. So feel free not to read this at all.
1. 1787, a good year for you guys, huh? It's almost certianly about the vote, given the year. Perhaps city-dwellers were allocated 3/5 of the votes of country-dwellers, allowing rural people a greater percentage of the vote to counter the greater numbers of urban populations? (We effectively had a similar set-up here in SA in the early 20th century, so such an idea isn't impossible.
2. Madison? As in James Madison? Was he president in 1803? Sounds like as good an idea as any. It would have had some kind of effect on the validity of his presidency.
3. Or is? Hrmm, that would seem to rule out a racist thing...How about Annexing Canada?
4. I think this was the route dispossed Indians were forced to take when their land was seized by the government, or something along those lines. It's occasionally referred to in Indigenous debates here, and considered kinda bad (what with the tears and all).
5. TMBG comes to the rescue. James K. Polk (the 11th president) made the English well the Oregon Territory. I can't be sure of the reasonn, but it was probably to avoid fighting both the English and the Mexicans at once.
6. 1933? That's too early for it to be a civil rights thing...20's and 30's America...Oh...Prohibiton? I wish I were more confident.
7. To allow himself (or his party) to appoint all the new judges?
8. Specific demographic group? How specific? 1920 is about right for you slowcoaches to allow women's suffrage...1971 I have no idea about. I'll say women, is that specific enough?
9. Equal Rights Amendment? Ok, by this time surely you guys have got around to full suffrage for everyone (even we had with our Indigenous population by then), so it's about ensuring fair treatment, not just suffrage. I'll say for women again...one of these has to be right.
10. Drug Trafficking? Hrmm, I doubt that that's Iraq. So, South America, then? Columbia or Panama. I have no idea where you guys invaded in those days, but it doesn't suprise me that you did. I'll go Panama, because you still heard about Columbian drug lords in 90's movies...

Oh dear.

UnwiseOwl said...

Whoa, I didn't do so badly!
Home Court advantage smashed!

Jennifer said...

DrSchnell, from your unusual re-spellings of "likker" and "wimmen," it looks like you're very subtly suggesting some kind of connection between the two...

Elaine said...

The Trail of Tears...involved the removal of MANY tribes; the reason that large numbers were from Southern states was that disease and warfare had already 'taken care of' many of the more northerly Native Americans. The Cherokee Nation was one of the most visible, (check out John Marshall's ruling,) but there were numerous tribal identities involved. The removal was not just 'west of the Mississippi'--Indian Territory began across the Arkansas River from Fort Smith, Arkansas. Many new forts were constructed in Indian Territory and points west so that troops could keep the tribes in line; many of these forts were named for Civil War heroes (from the winning side, that is.)

The entire business of 'Indian Removal' was much more vast and brutal than most people realize...and the origin of the idea more squalid. Question: where did the first gold rush in the United States occur? (Hint: it was well before The Forty-Niners flocked west.) BTW, the Cherokee name is pronounced 'dah LAHN e gah.'

Michael5000 said...

1. The Three-Fifths Compromise was the decision that, for purposes of determining a state's representation, a slave counted as 3/5 of a human.

2. In Marbury vs. Madison, the Supreme Court granted itself the power of judicial review -- an important part of our Constitutional system that you will not find in the Constitution. Two points for "defined checks and balances."

3. A U.S. policy banning any subsequent European colonies or "interference" in the Western Hemisphere.

4. The forced relocation of the Cherokee Nation (and possibly others, I forget) to modern Oklahoma.

5. The addition of a new slave state, under the bizarre balancing act of antebellum U.S. politics, demanded that a new "free state" be created as quickly as possible.

6. Prohibition.

7. Adding several additional Justices in order to create a Court more sympathetic to his programs.

8. Women between 18 and 21. Two points for just women. Four points for "No wait, womenfolks. NO WAIT, MINORS!"

9. Equal rights for women.

10. Panama (and, cue Van Halen riff...)

Michael5000 said...

DrSchnell took first honors, followed by Carto, la gringissima, and Kadonkadonk.

In the topsy-turvy world of late-season quizzing, though, la gringissima stretched past DrSchnell to take a two-point lead, 695-693. Unwise Owl is at 687, Mrs.5000 at 672, and Kadokadonk at 665 with room to move.