AP®HistoryCollege BoardUS HistoryExam QuestionsPeriod 6: 1865-1898Westward Expansion: Economic Development

Westward Expansion: Economic Development (College Board AP® US History): Exam Questions

4 mins4 questions
11 mark
19th-century newspaper illustration depicting two trains labelled San Francisco and New York approaching each other with large hands shaking in front of mountains.
Frank Beard, “Does not such a meeting make amends?”, 29th May 1869

Which important historical event is the focus of the cartoon?

  • The discovery of the Comstock Lode

  • Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad

  • Closure of the Bozeman Trail

  • Near-extermination of the buffalo

Choose your answer

21 mark
19th-century newspaper illustration depicting two trains labelled San Francisco and New York approaching each other with large hands shaking in front of mountains.
Frank Beard, “Does not such a meeting make amends?”, 29th May 1869

Which of the following actions would this cartoonist most likely have criticized?

  • Congress established the Indian Peace Commission

  • Custer’s Last Stand

  • President Ulysses S. Grant’s “peace policy”

  • The Ghost Dance Movement

Choose your answer

31 mark
19th-century newspaper illustration depicting two trains labelled San Francisco and New York approaching each other with large hands shaking in front of mountains.
Frank Beard, “Does not such a meeting make amends?”, 29th May 1869

The key U.S. belief that the cartoon is strongly criticizing is

  • Manifest Destiny

  • The “American Dream”

  • Self-sufficiency

  • The “melting pot”

Choose your answer

41 mark
19th-century newspaper illustration depicting two trains labelled San Francisco and New York approaching each other with large hands shaking in front of mountains.
Frank Beard, “Does not such a meeting make amends?”, 29th May 1869

The cartoon reflects a point of view about which of the following continuities in U.S. history?

  • Debates about immigration policy

  • Debates about the role of the federal government in racial issues

  • Debates about civil rights

  • Debates about the impact of the Progressive Era on Indigenous communities

Choose your answer