The British intended to conciliate the American Indians who had fought against the British in The Seven Years’ War and who resided in the territories Britain acquired in 1763. Preventing expansion would shield the American Indians from violent encroachment by colonists; (C) is correct. (A) is incorrect because the British were primarily concerned with the large numbers of American Indians, not French people, living in the new land acquisitions. (B) is incorrect because the British wanted to create peace with the tribes rather than attempt to establish commerce. (D) is incorrect because the British did not struggle with any major challenges with establishing governments in these regions.
After the war, Americans believed they had fought for and were entitled to settle lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, which included the Ohio River Valley; (B) is correct. (A) is incorrect because at this time the colonies still relied on Great Britain; the Declaration of Independence was not signed until 13 years later. The primary financial concern of the colonists was to expand farming settlements in the fertile Ohio River Valley, not to establish economic relationships with American Indians; (C) is incorrect. (D) is incorrect because the colonists did not believe they were responsible for this debt; in fact, tensions arose due to the British efforts to collect funds from the colonies, ultimately leading to the Revolutionary War.
Although the Proclamation of 1763 forbade settlement past the Appalachian Mountains, it was difficult to enforce and American settlers flooded into Indian lands. (B) is correct because this encroachment caused a major uprising led by Pontiac, an Ottawa chief. (A) is incorrect because the American settlers did not experience further conflicts with the French when encroaching on native lands. (C) and (D) are incorrect because this encroachment did not result in hostility toward or taxes from the British.
According to the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1783, the British were supposed to evacuate their forts and posts in the Great Lakes region. They did not, which led Supreme Court Justice John Jay to once again call on them to follow the previous terms; therefore, (C) is correct. (A) is incorrect because Article 2 of Jay’s Treaty does not describe removing troops from American homes, just the forts and posts; following the end of the Revolutionary War and the passage of the Constitution, Americans were no longer required to house British troops. While the Treaty did seek to settle wartime debts, the issue was resolved by issuing trade rights to Americans, not by requiring Britain to repay war debts, making (B) incorrect. (D) is incorrect because the treaty only required the withdrawal of British Army units from forts in the Northwest Territory, not citizens.
Before the American Revolution, the commercial relationship between British and American merchants was intertwined, so many British merchants were still owed money by Americans after the war. (B) is correct because the American government agreed to assume these debts and pay the British in exchange for the British meeting the terms of the treaty. (A), (C), and (D) are incorrect because Article 6 of Jay’s Treaty acknowledges the debts and agrees to pay them in exchange for British compliance with the treaty’s terms.
John Jay was seen as a traitor once the public became aware of the treaty; (C) is correct. (A) is incorrect, as most of the terms of the treaty were never upheld by the British. The frustration this treaty caused was directed toward Jay rather than the British, making (B) incorrect. (D) is incorrect because Jay was considered a traitor; in fact, his body was burned in effigy in the streets by the angry American public.
The British never fully upheld their end of Jay’s Treaty, and relations eventually deteriorated to the point of another war; therefore, (B) is correct. The British failed to evacuate forts or respect American interests and continued to arm hostile Indians in the Old Northwest, making (A) incorrect. While Spain was concerned about Jay’s Treaty, it did not become more hostile, but instead negotiated with the United States through Pinckney’s Treaty; (C) is incorrect. (D) is incorrect because France did not seek to strengthen its ties to America; in fact, the United States and France were engaged in a naval quasi-war from 1798 to 1800.
The XYZ Affair of 1797, in which French agents demanded bribe money from American diplomats, angered the American public. The Federalists were able to seize on this anger to win a majority of Congressional seats in the 1798 election, at which time they immediately passed the Alien and Sedition Acts. (D) is correct. (A) and (B) are both incorrect; while these treaties both had to do with foreign diplomatic relations (with Britain and Spain, respectively), they were not catalysts for the Alien and Sedition Acts. (C) is incorrect because the Louisiana Purchase occurred in 1803, after the Alien and Sedition Acts.
The Alien and Sedition Acts were aimed at the anti-Federalist critics of Adams’s presidency and his approach to French relations during the XYZ Affair and resulting quasi-war; (B) is correct. The Acts were actually put into place by Federalists, who already controlled Congress at this time, making (A) incorrect. (C) is incorrect because the Acts actually allowed the president to imprison and deport noncitizens who were thought dangerous. (D) is incorrect because the legislation punished any government critics not just federal officials.
The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions argued that states could nullify, within their borders, laws that were thought to be unconstitutional; (A) is correct. (B) is incorrect because the resolutions did not go so far as to suggest that the states would secede from the federal government. Both (C) and (D) are incorrect because these resolutions themselves were not specifically related to foreign policy, although they were passed in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Based on the demands of the First Continental Congress, the Americans promised not to import British goods, purchase or use British goods, or export goods to England to be processed in their factories. Previously, the colonies had maintained healthy economic ties with the British Crown; it wasn’t until predatory tax policies went into place that colonists boycotted and otherwise broke ties with Britain. Therefore, (B) is correct. (A) is incorrect because the colonists actually appealed to the King to convince Parliament to listen to their demands, looking to him for support. (C) is incorrect because the Declaration and Resolves was not the first attempt at unification to be introduced in Congress. Benjamin Franklin had introduced the Albany Plan to Congress earlier (which was reviewed and eventually rejected). While colonial leaders agreed that they had to demand that Britain repeal the Intolerable Acts, they disagreed on many other points, including how to interact with Britain in the future, making (D) incorrect.
Much like the First Continental Congress believed their essential rights were being violated, Virginians and Kentuckians believed that their rights to nullify a federal law (specifically, the Alien and Sedition Acts) were being violated. (A) is correct. (B) is incorrect because the Federalist Papers were written primarily to influence citizens to ratify the Constitution. When Missouri applied for statehood in 1819, the debate centered upon the balance between free and slave states, not essential rights, making (C) incorrect. Finally, (D) is incorrect because, while the ideals of the Constitutional Convention did include popular sovereignty, they also included federalism and a balance of power across all branches of government.
One of Britain’s weaknesses during the Revolutionary War was the ability to communicate quickly and efficiently to its troops; given the distance between England and America, it took a long time for British orders to be communicated and carried out. Therefore, (C) is correct. The British army’s robust finances and powerful navy were both advantages in the war; (A) and (B) are incorrect. (D) is incorrect because, as various colonies vied for power, infighting occurred among the colonial troops, and this disunity benefited the British military.
The Boston Massacre occurred in March 1770, but actual fighting between British troops and colonial militia did not begin until April 1775; thus, (B) is correct and (A) is incorrect. In the immediate aftermath of the massacre, another event had an even more decisive short-term impact: the repeal of four of the five Townshend duties, an action that helped reduce tensions for the next two to three years. (C) is incorrect because John Adams actually defended the accused British soldiers in a court of law. Lastly, the Molasses Act, while especially egregious to colonists, was passed in 1733, decades before the Boston Massacre; (D) is incorrect.
Days and weeks after the incident, a propaganda battle was waged between radicals seeking rebellion and loyalists trying to influence opinion back in England; (C) is correct. The engraving above was used to make prints that were circulated in the Boston Gazette. Few citizens of Boston, including loyalist Tories, decided to enlist in any military force in 1770, much less in the British army, which makes (A) incorrect. (B) is incorrect because the Boston Tea Party was a response to the Tea Act of May 1773, not the Boston Massacre of March 1770. (D) is incorrect because, while citizens would eventually know him as a great leader, George Washington’s appointment to lead a new colonial military force did not occur until June 1775.
John Adams’s characterization of the victims is a direct comparison between the uniformed, higher-class British soldiers and the working-class colonists. The context was the animosity that the presence of British troops in Boston had caused, particularly the resentment on the part of many laborers. They resented the competition that British soldiers caused in the search for menial jobs, as well as the Intolerable Acts decree that allowed soldiers to be quartered in the houses of colonists. Therefore, (A) is correct. (B) is incorrect because the right to organize had not yet been asserted. (C) is incorrect because Adams himself was a lawyer and a member of a higher class; he was not advocating specifically for these minority groups. Adams defended the British soldiers in court, so he would not accuse them of actions as described in (D).
President Washington referenced both treaties as examples of diplomatic initiatives that were preferable to becoming entangled in foreign wars. Additionally, he argued that these treaties benefited the settlers living in the West, in an attempt to further unite the country; (B) is correct. Washington wrote his address near the end of his second term with the intention of retiring from office. While he did defend his administration’s record, the address was intended to inspire confidence in the federal government, not himself personally; (A) is incorrect. Washington was broadly sympathetic to the Federalist Party, and was not criticized by them, making (C) incorrect. Finally, New Englanders did not consider seceding from the Union until the Hartford Convention in 1814, long after Washington had left office; (D) is incorrect.
President Washington warned his countrymen not to be swayed by inauthentic appeals to one’s regional identity for partisan political purposes; (D) is correct. (A) is incorrect because Washington was eager to retire from politics, and he was not concerned with Federalist representation in Congress. While Washington was always wary of “factions,” or political parties, he does not specifically reference Westerners forming their own party, but was rather concerned with outsiders manipulating people in the West; (B) is incorrect. (C) is incorrect because Washington’s address focused on politics and policy, not security from attacks by American Indians.
President Washington was aware that Westerners, much like the rest of the American public, had been critical of former treaties with foreign nations (for example, Jay’s Treaty). Therefore, Washington’s reference to securing for Westerners “everything they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity” was to remind them of their newly guaranteed navigation rights on the Mississippi, as granted in the Pinckney Treaty. (A) is correct. Westerners weren’t uniquely concerned with relations with England, which makes (B) incorrect. Pinckney’s Treaty did not relate to alliances between the states or threats of a French invasion, so (C) and (D) are incorrect.
The Democratic-Republican party was comprised primarily of Anti-Federalists, not Federalists, making (B) correct. (Remember that the question is asking which of the answer choices is not true.) For years, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists had debated the role of central government versus state government. Hotly contested topics, such as the Bank of the United States, further drove a wedge between these two groups. By the election of 1792, disparate Anti-Federalists had formed a group they named Democratic-Republicans, or Jeffersonian Republicans. Therefore, (A) and (D) are incorrect. (C) is also incorrect, because the Proclamation of Neutrality was indeed criticized by Anti-Federalists, such as Jefferson and Madison, who denounced the Federalists’ neutrality regarding the French Revolution.