American History: Micro-Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education >>>>> Exam Covering American Prehistory and History through 1829

Because the education at the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) is so wretched, I teach my students in the New Salem Educational Initiative most all of what they know in the major subject areas.  I am now in the process of bringing two books to completion, one (Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools:  Current Condition, Future Prospect), which exposes with exhaustive factual detail the multiple deficiencies of MPS, the other (Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education) that imparts to my students the knowledge-intense education that they should have but do not come close to receiving in MPS schools.

 

I have now actually generated three versions of (Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education) for my students, depending on the time for knowledge acquisition that applies to given students.  For example, in its fullest presentation, the American History chapter runs 65 single-spaced pages.  There is an intermediate length (30 single-spaced pages) presentation, and there a micro-version that runs eleven (11) single-spaced pages for those students who for various reasons need to acquire as quickly as possible the essential facts and themes of American History.

 

A few days back, I entered the micro-version of this chapter on the blog.

 

I now invite my readers to test their own knowledge of American History through 1829 by taking the following exam.

 

I have generated an exam featuring my own answers to serve as a model for my students in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of their own responses.   After I surmise that readers have had time to take this exam, I will enter the model exam on the blog.

 

Please now peruse and take the following exam:  

                                        

American History:  Micro-Fundamentals of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education

 

Exam Covering American Prehistory and History through 1829

 
Gary Marvin Davison, Ph. D.

Director, New Salem Educational Initiative

 

I.  Identification     (2.5 points each)

 

1.  BCE

 

 

2.  CE

 

 

 

3.  Bering Strait

 

 

 

4.  Christopher Columbus

 

 

 

5.  Divide and conquer

(generally, and then particularly with regard to organization of slavery on

British-American colonial and early-United States plantations)

 

 

 

6.  Lousiana Purchase

 

 

 

7.  George Washington

 

 

 

8.  Loyalists (Tories, Redcoats)

 

 

 

9.  judicial review

 

 

 

10.  Monroe Doctrine (1823)

.

 

II.  Short Answer     (15 points each)

 

1.  Give an account of the arrival of those people who became the indigenous peoples of the Americas (Native Americans), their geographical expansion over the two continents, their individual distinctiveness, and common features in their way of life.  

 

 

 

 

 

2.  For the European powers of Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, and France, give accounts of the general pattern of their settlement in the Americas:  Explain where each power located colonies, what economic return occurred as a result of colonialization, and the duration of colonialization for each of the powers.

 

 

 

 

3.  Give a brief account of the American Revolution, including reasons for occurrence, diverse patterns of participation and sentiment among the colonists, general pattern of the fighting, important associated documents or declarations, and outcome.

 

 

 

 

4.  Give a careful distinction between the Articles of Confederation (1781) and the United States Constitution (1789).

 

 

 

 

5.  Explain the different stances of the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists, the two parties that dominated electoral politics in the United States during the first three decades in the history of the nation.